by Megan Harrison
Published 1994
Kogan Page
Paperback
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Blackstone's Police Manual - Evidence and Procedure: 2002 Ed
by Glenn Hutton, David Johnston
Published1999
Blackstone Press
Paperback
Read more...
If represented you will be led through the case. Your representative will follow your instructions based on his advice. A good tip is to make sure you have some paper and a pen so that if you need to communicate with your representative whilst the court is in session you can pass him a note. Except for when you are giving your own evidence all communications to the court should be made through your representative.
If you are unrepresented it is essential that you have paper and pen to make notes about the prosecutors questions and the answers as it is not permitted for you to interrupt until its your turn to question the witness.
The basic order of proceedings are:-
1.The defendant is identified (you)
2.The prosecutor opens his/ her case by identifying the offence and the outline of the case.
3.The prosecutor calls his first witness and questions them.
4.The defence then has the opportunity to question the evidence the witness has given.
5.The prosecutor can again question the witness if something new has been brought up.
6.The Magistrates are able to question the witness to clarify any evidence given.
3 to 6 is repeated for each prosecution witness
7.The defence will call their first witness, normally this will be the defendant (you), and questions them.
8.The prosecutor then has the opportunity to question the defendant/ witness.
9.The defence can again question the defendant/ witness if something new has been brought up.
10.The Magistrates are able to question the witness to clarify any evidence given.
7 to 10 is repeated for each defence witness.
11.The defence can now make its final statement highlighting differing points that have come out of the evidence given and any points of law that the Magistrates should take into consideration.
12.The Magistrates will retire to make their decision.
If you are represented the whole case should flow fairly easily tried and tested over many years. However if you are unrepresented, and unused to court proceedings it can be extremely confusing and frustrating.
If you are unrepresented the Legal Advisor is your friend. If and when you don't understand anything ask the Legal Advisor to assist you. Questioning witnesses is a real art, especially if you are doing it with a lot riding on the result of the answers given. Consider the following short scenario:-
Hopefully you can see the problem. Your first question is a legitimate question. The second question is not a question its you giving evidence, that's not permitted no matter how much you want to until its your turn to give evidence. The purpose of questioning the witness is to prove their evidence. You could ask "can you be 100% sure that it was me", "how good was the lighting", "what were the weather conditions", "how far away were you" etc. The knack is to actually think about your self in the third person i.e. look at the case from an outside perspective.
The next problem for the unrepresented, as I'm sure you have noticed, is how do you question yourself. What you have to do is give a statement of the facts as you see them, from beginning to end. The same evidential rules apply, in that you can only give evidence that you have witnessed. You may not give hear say evidence etc. It would also be prudent at the end to ask the Legal Advisor if there is anything you may of missed out.
I hope the information on these pages will be helpful, and are given 'as is' with no guarantee's.